‘The benchmark of excellence on the world stage’

University of Saskatchewan (USask) alumni John Cote (BSA’86) and Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote (BSA’87, MSc’94) ended 2025 on a high note after earning an international award.

The spouses are the co-founders and co-owners of Black Fox Farm and Distillery, a Saskatchewan-based business that combines traditional practices with modern technology to create premium spirits.

On Nov. 12, 2025, Black Fox was named the Worldwide Whisky Producer of the Year. The trophy was one of the highest honours given at the 2025 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London, England. The honour was bestowed on Black Fox for the distillery’s overall portfolio, innovation, and commitment to excellence.

Stefanyshyn-Cote told the Green&White that she was “thrilled” to win the international award, noting “it takes a lot to be shortlisted.”

“The competition is fierce and the list of past winners very impressive,” she said. “So now to be included in this group is very rewarding and satisfying.”

Cote and Stefanyshyn-Cote, who both grew up in rural Saskatchewan, first met in the 1980s as students at USask’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources, where Cote studied soil science and Stefanyshyn-Cote studied animal science. The USask graduates then went on to run a 5,000-acre grain farm near Leask, Sask., and raise four children while Stefanyshyn-Cote pursued a career as an animal nutrition consultant after earning her Master of Science degree at USask in 1994.

In 2010, the farmers shifted gears when they sold their grain farm and purchased 80 acres of river valley land on Valley Road, located about five kilometres southwest of Saskatoon. They dreamed of creating a craft distillery using Saskatchewan ingredients and, in August of 2015, the first batch of gin flowed at Black Fox Farm and Distillery from a custom-made German Kothe hybrid copper pot still, a piece of high-tech equipment controlled by computers.

Stefanyshyn-Cote said Black Fox’s “crop-to-connoisseur” philosophy “means we care for the entire process, starting from the seeds that go into the ground to the final pour in your glass.”

“Through production of the ingredients to mashing, fermentation, distillation, and packaging of the final product, we do it all, which is very rare in distilled spirits,” she said.

What makes Black Fox’s products unique is that they are literally infused with the taste of Saskatchewan. After production, the distillery’s whisky and select gins are aged outdoors under the prairie skies. As a result, the oak barrels undergo expansion and contraction through drastically changing temperatures and throughout Saskatchewan’s distinct four seasons, producing one-of-a-kind spirits that cannot be replicated anywhere else. In fact, Black Fox is believed to be the only distillery in the world that embraces the extreme weather fluctuations that Saskatchewan has to offer and, as such, every barrel of whisky is unique.

Stefanyshyn-Cote said the post-secondary educations that she and her husband received at USask’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources have been beneficial in their endeavours.

“Our degrees in agriculture are the basis of our success. We rely heavily on our agricultural expertise to craft products that are unexpected and exceptional,” said Stefanyshyn-Cote.

“While not everything was learned in class, it is knowing how to find answers and challenge the status quo, plus the ability to research and ask good questions, that enabled us to build a business that deliberately does things differently within a highly regulated and tradition-bound industry. And, of course, the relationships we made with classmates and professors created a lifelong network of trusted experts and sounding boards—people we continue to rely on for insight, perspective, and collaboration as our business evolves.”

Stefanyshyn-Cote and Cote take pride in being from Saskatchewan and continually study how the soil, the climate, and the topography of their farm influence the bounty coming from their land. The couple has refined Black Fox’s business model over the years, moving from growing vegetables in the farm’s early days to its current focus on flowers and premium spirits.

“We are grateful to the community around us. There is something distinctive about Saskatchewan,” said Stefanyshyn-Cote. “We are often underestimated, but we have the resilience and ingenuity to be the benchmark of excellence on the world stage.”